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So we ambled out of the kitchen, and then went for a ramble around the house. Pussy, who’d returned from a short interlude in the bathroom to act as our tour guide, showed us all the best spots where she liked to lay her weary head, and invited us to enjoy them. It was the nicest thing any cat had ever done for us. Usually cats hate it when other cats invade their space, or even dare to come near their favorite spots, but Pussy had no qualms. What struck me, after we passed through several of the bedrooms and a couple of the bathrooms, was that life at Chateau Leonidas must have been pretty lonely for her, and quite dull. Maybe Leo and Gabe had loved her, and spoiled her rotten, but she still seemed unhappy. And suddenly I felt a little homesick, and started to long to be home again, snuggling up to Odelia on the couch while watching some silly show. Dooley must have felt the same way, for he gave me a sad glance that offered a glimpse into his soul. That glimpse was like a mirror: once Odelia was married, our lives would never be the same again.

But then I steeled myself. I was not going to allow myself to become prey to my emotions. It was the house, I suddenly realized, and Pussy’s mood, infecting me with their sadness and melancholy.

So I decided to perk up, and enjoy these rare Instagramable moments.

Chapter 13

Uncle Alec and Chase watched the man sitting across from them at the table and Alec wondered when he’d last seen a more miserable piece of human than this guy. Gabriel Crier was a well-preserved quinquagenarian with gentle features and close-cropped hair of a light blond hue. Right now, though, he had dark circles under his eyes, and his tan skin was blotched.

“But I’m telling you, I didn’t do it,” he repeated not for the first time.

“There’s a witness, Gabriel,” said Alec. “One of the maids saw you, with the knife in your hand, and blood all over your shirt.”

“I know,” he said, shaking his head. “I was there, remember? But I’m still telling you I couldn’t have done it. I loved Leo. I would never…”

“So what do you think happened?” asked Chase, who had more patience than Alec.

“I don’t know, but I can’t have killed him. I would never… would I?”

“Is it true you and Leonidas had a big fight last night?”

Gabriel placed his hands on his head and nodded.“We did.”

“Can I ask what the fight was about?”

“The same as usual. I wanted Leo to take a step back—to relinquish the reins—basically to retire, and he flat-out refused. I told him he was seventy-eight and had earned the right to rest on his laurels. I wanted us to spend more time together. Travel the world. He was in excellent health andwe’d been talking about spending a couple of months in Asia. Leo loved Malaysia, and always wanted to visit but his work prevented him. So I told him to leave the heavy lifting to his staff and take a step back but he insisted he couldn’t stop now.”

“Why not?” asked Alec. “I mean, like you said, he was seventy-eight. If he didn’t retire now when was he going to?”

“I don’t know. He claimed that things at the company were such that he simply couldn’t afford to assume a more hands-off role.”

“Things at the company were bad, you mean?” asked Chase.

“No idea. I’m not a business person myself. I used to be Leo’s hairstylist. That’s how we met, and then soon after I became his personal stylist and things progressed from there. I also used to do massages on the side. But that didn’t exactly make me qualified to determine what was going on at Leonidas Flake. All I know is that poor Leo was under a lot of pressure, which is why I told him to consider retirement or at least to take a break. But he refused, and said that if he stepped down as president and CEO now the whole house of cards could very well collapse and then everything he’d worked for would be reduced to nothing. I didn’t understand. How can an empire like Leonidas Flake collapse simply because the founder decides to retire? There must be plenty of people who can run that business, right?”

“I don’t know, buddy,” said Alec, who felt sorry for the guy, in spite of the fact that he was obviously a killer. “I’m not really into fashion myself.”

“Leo had trained a lieutenant. A second-in-command and potential successor. Xavier Yesmanicki. He’d been running the day-to-day side of the business for years, and was ready to take over. Or at least that’s what Leo told me. He was so proud of Xavier. Said that if only he’d found him soonerhe’d have been able to make Leonidas Flake twice as big as it was now. Anyway, our arguments always revolved around the same topic: I saw that he was suffering and so I urged him to slow down, and that made him upset, and so he threw in my face that all I wanted was to destroy his life’s work and yadda yadda yadda.” He threw his hands in the air. “It was horrible. Horrible!”

“And so one thing led to another and in a fit of rage you killed him.”